Well well well....it's been a while. To be fair, there's been just a FEW life changes lately!
Let's start back at where my last entry left off:
Phillip was in Mississippi, saying his final goodbyes to his dad. He left on February 19th. During his stay, I started to feel very strange. One day I woke up and knew something wasn't right. I took my blood pressure and found it to be extremely high. So, I went to the doctor to check on the twins, and they increased my blood pressure medicine by quite a bit. A few days later, after getting used to the dose of medicine, I felt a little bit better. In Mississippi, Phillip's dad health was declining steadily, to the point where we knew, unfortunately, that it was just a matter of time. We had made the decision that he should stay there until his dad passed, so he could be there for the funeral and be a pallbearer. With a bunch of help from my mom, I was able to manage things with the kids. We were searching for a new daycare for Jaxon, while trying to keep things as calm as possible for me, especially with my blood pressure issue. On the morning of March 5th, I woke up vomiting. I chalked it up to "morning sickness", I had never really gotten completely over it and sometimes I would still be sick if I had too much acid in my stomach. We had an appointment that morning at a new daycare to see how Jaxon might like it. I felt very strange, my whole body hurt and I was just exhausted. We went to the new daycare and really liked it, thank goodness. Jaxon stayed there that day, and I decided to go home and lay down-thinking I had a tummy bug because I couldn't keep anything down. I quickly fell asleep, until a phone call from Phillip woke me up. His father passed away. After talking for a bit, we got off the phone, and I fell asleep yet again. My mom ended up picking me up and taking me to the doctor- where they found out my blood pressure was still high and I was extremely dehydrated. The decided to admit me to the hospital to check on babies and get some fluids in me...which turned into the discovery of protein in my urine, and my diagnosed preeclampsia. I was told a couple days later that I would be staying in the hospital until I delivered my twins, and they were considering taking them right when I hit 32 weeks. I received steroid shots in my legs to help mature the twins' lungs and brain. Because of the change of plans, we decided to go ahead and have the baby shower that we had planned for at the hospital, on March 9th. This was also the day of Phillip's dad's funeral. Since I was on bed rest and my blood pressure climbed with even the slightest bit of activity, my shower was very short, but very sweet! Some lovely ladies (and one gentleman!) attended and made me feel very special! I had to remain laying down through the whole hour, but it even though I grumbled about it, I knew it was for the safety of the babies. After the shower, my doctor came in and said that she wanted to go ahead with the C-section as soon as possible. I was terrified that she would want to do it before Phillip returned, as he was still in Mississippi and it is about a 24 hour drive straight through. She told me she would wait as long as she could, but it would be before the end of the upcoming week. So, I called Phillip and told him the plan, and he and his sister decided to leave Mississippi directly after the funeral. On the morning of the 10th, my doctor made another visit. She had thought about it over night, and wanted to get the babies out the following day. By this time, I was relatively calm. I knew it was happening, regardless of anything else, and I had come to terms with it. I figured that Phillip would get in later that evening, we'd get some sleep, and then wake up and have our babies. About an hour later, the doctor came back in again, after hearing that Phillip was on his way. She decided she wanted to have the C-section THAT EVENING. Yikes. All day I was on edge, stressing over whether they would make it back in time. My doctor assured me that she would wait for him to get there, but I wasn't very trusting, since plans had changed so much so quickly. Finally, at around 3 pm, Phillip arrived at the hospital! I was so overwhelmed and relieved to finally see him, after almost a month of not being able to. They made it just in time, because by 5pm I was heading into the operating room. My C-section was NOT fun. It never really is, but this time was tied for the worst (tied with Aiden's delivery, where I threw up about 10 times, and passed out). Not only did the spinal hurt, it took multiple pokes. After they settled me into position, I had a monstrous panic attack. I mean...a WHAMMY. I started to pant and gasp for air so the anesthesiologist tried putting an oxygen mask on my face, which only made my anxiety worse because I felt claustrophobic. I am ashamed to admit that I screamed at him to take it off my face, while ripping my head out of his arms. He calmly reminded me that I was hyperventilating and that I needed to calm down. I then got sick, and vomited about 3 times. They had some trouble removing Baby A, but finally managed to get a hold on him. At just before 32 weeks gestation, Gavin Lewis Byrd was born March 10th, 2014 at 6:37pm, 17 and 3/4 inches long and 4 pounds, 15 ounces. Next, at 6:38 pm, Christian Maxwell Byrd was born, weighing in at 4 pounds, 9 ounces and 18 inches long. They showed Gavin to me very briefly, I did not get to see Christian before they took them both back to the NICU.
I was determined, after returning to my room, to see my babies. Of course, directly after surgery they don't let you move around too much. I didn't get to lay eyes on my boys until 1am. They wheeled me down in my bed to see them and I was taken aback at how tiny they were. I couldn't reach them from my bed, but I wanted to touch them so badly. The next morning, I tried walking. It was a slow process, trying to work through the pain. It was a process for the twins, as well. They, of course, had to be on the ventilator right after they were born. But, they are little fighters. After 3 days, they came off the vents. They had to be on some oxygen, but not for very long at all. The majority of their time in the NICU was spent trying to perfect the ever-exhausting "suck, swallow, breathe" routine while eating.
In the midst of everything happening with the twins, we also switched Aiden and Jaxon to a new daycare. Luckily, they have been doing AWESOME there. And I have seen a huge improvement in their behavior at home, especially with Jaxon. It definitely has been a blessing! We needed an awesome place we could depend on because yet another change happened. We moved! Well...we are in the same apartment complex, but in a bigger unit. We LOVE it. I'm so happy with it, I love having enough room for every body. As if that weren't enough change, we bought a minivan! Because...FOUR KIDS!
And the biggest change of all...after six long weeks- Baby Gavin came home yesterday!! I am so so excited to FINALLY have one of my babies home! Christian has a viral infection right now, with a cough and congestion so they want to keep him at the hospital until that is all cleared up. The good news is that today he sounds a million times better! So, hopefully he can come join us soon and our family will finally be complete!
Gavin's first night home went very smoothly! Knock on wood here, but so far he's been a very pleasant and easy baby! He is adjusting so well and I am pleased that I'm able to go right back into taking care of a newborn. I was even able to clean this morning! We'll see how long that lasts once we add one more to the mix! Haha! But I'm feeling fairly confident and I am so enjoying my new babyboos!
More to come when I can, now it's time for Mister Gavin's bath!
